1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a connecting device which detachably holds an electronic apparatus provided with a display screen and serves as an interface for signal input/output between this electronic apparatus and an external device, and an electronic apparatus system provided with the electronic apparatus and the connecting device.
2. Description of Related Art
Recently, there have been developed and commercialized electronic apparatuses which are provided with a large display screen at the front of the housing and formed in a plate shape as a whole without having a keyboard and to which an instruction is inputted by bringing a pen into contact with or close to the display screen to make the position of the pen recognized. As such electronic apparatus, for example, a palm-sized type apparatus the processing power of which is limited, and a tablet type apparatus having a processing power as a personal computer (hereinafter, this tablet type apparatus is briefly referred to as a tablet PC) are known.
Such an electronic apparatus can have form and functions convenient for carrying the electronic apparatus, and it is assumed to be carried and that can be used inside and outside. Especially the tablet PC described above, however, is also assumed to be that can be used for a work on a desk because it can have processing power as a personal computer.
When such an electronic apparatus is that can be used on a desk, it is desirable to connect an external device such as a keyboard to the electronic apparatus to facilitate the work. However, in the form of directly connecting an external device to the electronic apparatus, the user has to attach or detach the external device to or from the electronic apparatus each time of switching between the use on a desk and the use while carrying the electronic apparatus, that is very troublesome.
For example, example embodiment, an electronic apparatus addressing this problem can be provided with a display screen is detachably held, and a docking station, that is a connecting device for serving as an interface for a signal input/output between this electronic apparatus and an external device, is that can be used to connect the electronic apparatus and an external device via this docking station. By using such a docking station, the user can easily perform switching between the use of the electronic apparatus on a desk and the use while carrying it.
At the lower part of the attached surface of the above docking station, a positioning member with a cross section formed in a U shape is attached in a manner that it can freely turn around an axis in the longitudinal direction. Therefore, this docking station makes it possible to easily and accurately attach the electronic apparatus by inserting the lower end part of the electronic apparatus into this positioning member to position the electronic apparatus and turn the positioning member around the axis from that state to get the back surface of the electronic apparatus in close contact with the attached surface.
This docking station can also be provided with a docking-station-side connector at the attached surface, and the electronic apparatus can be provided with an electronic-apparatus-side connector to be engaged with the docking-station-side connector on its back surface. Therefore, at the same time of getting the back surface of the electronic apparatus into contact with the attached surface of the docking station, the user can electrically connect the docking-station-side connector and the electronic-apparatus-side connector with each other.